Abstract

The Effects of High Surface Activated Carbon, Conductive Carbon Black, and Various Doping Agents and their Derivatives on the Performance of Solid-State Supercapacitors

Due to a dramatic increase in the production of electric vehicles (EVs) by automakers along with a proliferation of interested consumers, there has been a rise in demand for high-performance energy storage devices. In electric vehicles, the most prevalent energy storage device is the lithium-ion battery capable of storing a large amount of energy. The lithium-ion battery, however, aside from its high energy density (large energy storage capacity), has some shortcomings. For example, its low power density (max instantaneous power output), short lifetime, and safety hazards. One solution to these shortcomings is to use supercapacitors with a high power density, high energy density and a long lifetime. In EVs, its high power density results in faster acceleration and its high energy density corresponds to higher driving range. Current uses of SCs in EVs are limited to being used in vehicle acceleration and regenerative braking because of their fast discharge rate and long cycle stability. The reason behind SCs not being used as stand-alone energy storage devices in EVs is due to their low energy density. In order to increase the energy density of SCs to match that of traditional rechargeable batteries such as the energy density of lithium-ion batteries, recent advancements in nanotechnology, more specifically those pertaining to the materials used in electrodes, including but not limited to, graphene, graphene oxide, and carbon nanotubes, allow for the possibility of SCs with a high energy density to be created.